id Software’s John Carmack sticks up for Call of Duty

John Carmack has had enough of "snooty" developers attacking Call of Duty, and …

John Carmack was one of the guiding forces behind Doom and a cofounder of id Software. During an interview, the influential designer discussed id's upcoming shooter RAGE as having a different feel than many of the games on the market, but he also stuck up for the Call of Duty series, which has become a popular whipping boy for many gamers—and developers.

"As long as people are buying it, it means they’re enjoying it," Carmack told Industry Gamers. He pointed out that if people buy the next game in the Call of Duty series, it's because they enjoyed the last game, and want more of that experience. "So I am pretty down on people who take the sort of creative auteurs' perspective. It's like 'Oh, we’re not being creative.' But we're creating value for people—that’s our job! It’s not to do something that nobody’s ever seen before. It’s to do something that people love so much they’re willing to give us money for," he said.

Carmack also pointed out how many smaller developers send hate to the ultra-popular series. "[Y]ou see some of the indie developers that really take a snooty attitude about this. It’s almost as if it’s popular, it’s not good. And that’s just not true."

He makes a number of good points. Millions of people buy the Call of Duty games because—this might blow your mind—they have fun playing the games. Commenters that attack Call of Duty often seem to be hinting at the idea that no one is having fun playing the games, that people who like the games are sheep, or any number of negative things. People constantly say that the games stay the same year after year, which is a silly argument if you've ever actually played them. Especially at the higher skill levels, play changes dramatically from title to title.

While people are still going to assume that Call of Duty fans are having some kind of fake fun just to spite everyone else, can we give the hate a rest, just for a bit? We're all in this hobby to have fun and play games, and spending money to get more of what you like doesn't make anyone a sucker.